


The Unwanted

by Spurlunk



Category: One Direction (Band), The Wanted (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Fluff, Gen, OT5 Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-26 01:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1669454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spurlunk/pseuds/Spurlunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn discovers he has superpowers - he can move objects with his mind. It is only a matter of time before his roommate Niall finds out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unwanted

**Author's Note:**

> Nobody has looked this over so all mistakes are mine!!

Zayn was waiting outside of the hotel, checking his phone every few seconds, even though he knew the text he was waiting for would not arrive. Niall was always late. No sooner had he had that thought than a beat up gray car pulled up by the curb, honking loudly. Niall stuck his head out the window.

"Zayn, come on, we're gonna be late!" he called. Zayn grabbed his bag and got into the front seat next to him.

"And whose fault is that?"

"Class ran late, I made two pies."

Zayn twisted around in his seat and saw the boxes in the back. Niall brought leftovers home pretty often from his classes at the culinary institute, and when he went to Zayn's parents' house he always brought something delicious with him. His oldest was on some kind of diet, last time Zayn checked, but the younger two were always happy to see Niall, and only part of that was because of the tasty treats he often brought with him.

Zayn's parents liked Niall too. The two of them had met just at the end of school, and took a chance on each other when it turned out that they both needed a roommate to be able to afford moving out of their family's homes to live on their own. Niall needed a place to stay in the city, and Zayn had been wanting to go out on his own for a while. Not that he didn't like his family, on the contrary, he was over at the house at least four nights a week,  but sometimes he just needed his space.

That evening Zayn's mom made chicken curry, cauliflower, and rice. She waited till Niall was there to start making samosas, because he had mentioned he wanted to learn how she did it so he could try to do it himself at home. The two of them were in the kitchen, with Zayn's middle sister helping out, while Zayn watched TV in the living room with his younger sister and his dad. It was some Bollywood movie, they'd been halfway through it when he came in so he wasn't sure what it was called, but it was easy enough to follow.

They all ate together at the dining table, and Zayn's dad even turned off the TV, though the movie was not over. Niall praised the food as usual. Sometimes Zayn teased him and said that he was just friends with Zayn so that he could come over and eat homemade Asian food whenever he wanted. After dinner, Niall sat talking football with Zayn's father over tea and biscuits. Zayn said hi to his oldest sister when she came home, giving her a slightly sweaty hug. She'd been at work all day, and just wanted to take a shower and rest. Zayn went outside the back door and lingered in the alley, smoking a cigarette. His parents knew he smoked, and they didn't approve - his littlest sister especially bugged him to quit, but he just told her he was invincible, half-joking.

It was a little chilly, and he pulled his dark leather jacket a little tighter around his shoulders, sticking the cigarette in between his teeth so he could rub his hands together. Then he heard a shout, and noises that sounded like a struggle, coming from just a little ways down the alley. He put out the cigarette with the heel of his boot and went over to see what was going on. A tall boy with pale skin and dark hair was fighting with a man at least a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than him, and even though Zayn didn't know what was going on, he knew that this wasn't a fair fight. He wasn't a very big guy himself, and the last time he'd gotten into any kind of fight he was maybe twelve, but he had to help.

"Hey! Get off him!" Zayn called out. The boy turned to look at him, and was punched right in the jaw for his trouble. The bigger man completely ignored Zayn. He looked around on the ground around him, and picked up a large rock, throwing it at the guy. It bounced off like he was made of metal, but it got his attention. The man now let go of the boy and started advancing on Zayn.

"I - I didn't think this through," Zayn muttered, backing up and hitting the dirty wall behind him. He could see the boy in the alley slowly getting to his feet, but he was limping and hurt. Zayn closed his eyes, squeezing them shut as he braced for whatever was going to come at him - and he felt a pressure building at the pit of his stomach, growing and growing until he opened his eyes and yelled as loudly as he could, pushing his hands forward. Even though they didn't actually come into contact with the man, he felt something pour out of him and the man was thrown back literally three feet up in the air and back against the building, so hard that he slumped over on the ground and didn't move.

"Holy shit," Zayn whispered. He looked at his hands. They were exactly the same as they had always been. He had some blue paint under his fingernails. That was it.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. It was dark, but not dark enough that Zayn couldn't see that he was about his own age, with a black eye, a bloody lip, and a pretty pronounced limp.

"Um - Zayn. I mean, nobody. I'm nobody. That didn't happen, I'm going to go," he said, turning away.

"Zayn? I'm Liam. What did you just do? What was that?"

"I don't know, it doesn't matter. You should go home and get patched up."

"You're a superhero, mate."

"Not your mate. Not a superhero. Go home." Zayn said, and went back to the house, trying to hide how shaken he was by what had just happened.

 

By the time that Zayn and Niall got back to their apartment that night, full of delicious food and pleasant company, he had almost forgotten about the weird incident in the alleyway. He went to bed right away, because he had work the next morning, and didn't even have any strange dreams.

The next morning, still not fully awake, Zayn rolled out of bed, wearing just his boxers, and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast. He wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing, and it wasn't until Niall walked up behind him, quiet as a cat, that he realized that he wasn't actually holding the milk carton as it poured into his bowl of cereal.

"How - how are you doing that?" Niall asked, and Zayn, startled, let the milk fall to the counter, spilling all over and onto the floor.

"Shit!" Zayn said, milk on his hands and dripping down onto his bare feet.

"Seriously, how did you do that? You weren't touching the milk, it was floating in the air that's not possible." Niall said as Zayn reached for a cloth to wipe up the mess. He was going to be late for work at this rate.

"I don't know. It's just a thing I can do. I only found out a few days ago."

"You just decided not to tell me, your best mate, that you're some kind of superhero?"

"I'm not a superhero. I'm just me.  I have to go get dressed," he said, dumping his food down the sink and going back into his room.

"We're going to talk about this later, Zayn!" Niall called after him. Zayn put on his black slacks and white dress shirt without touching them, but the finer things, like the buttons and zipper, he had to do by hand. He grabbed a muffin on the way out the door, and yelled goodbye to Niall and to please lock the door before he went to class.

Zayn worked at a hotel. He worked the front desk, and he usually took the daytime shifts. He wasn't alone, there was a middle-aged woman named Beth who had a similar schedule, and they got along well. Other than checking people in and checking people out, taking reservations and answering the phone, there really wasn't much to do, which was just how Zayn liked it. This was just his way of making money to pay for rent while he used his free time to pursue his real passion - art. Sometimes he brought his sketchbook to work and drew when it was particularly slow, but honestly he spent more time playing silly games on his phone than anything else.

Today the monotony was broken when Beth told Zayn that the manager was interviewing candidates today to take over the night shift at the front desk.

"Did Karim quit?" Zayn asked.

"His wife just had a baby and the schedule wasn't working for them. He found another job that's better for him, but it leaves an opening here."

"Alright."  Zayn replied, kneeling down for a second to untangle the phone cord from where it had gotten jammed up against the leg of his chair.

"Hi, I'm here for an interview with Mr. McMahon?" a young man's voice said, and Beth told him to wait, that she would call him over for him. It must be a candidate ready to be interviewed. When Zayn stood back up, he was staring straight at Liam, the boy he had rescued in the alley last night. He turned pale, and Liam's eyes widened in surprise.

"Zayn! What are you doing here?"

"I work here. What are you doing here?"

"I will work here, hopefully. I don't think we'd work together that much, but maybe - "

"Are you following me?"

"No, I swear, I didn't even know - "

"Don't say anything about last night to anyone."

"Of course not, I would never - "

"Mr. McMahon will be right down, dear. Oh! Do you boys know each other?" Beth asked with a friendly smile.

"A little." Zayn said.

"We've got mutual friends. Seen each other around, that sort of thing."

"Right."

"Well, good luck to you, then," Beth said, and Mr. McMahon came around to pick Liam up, taking him back to his office for some privacy.

At the end of the day, Niall texted Zayn and said he was going out for drinks with Harry and Louis, his culinary school classmates, and Zayn was free to join them. He declined, he just didn't feel like being social today. Instead, he went into the apartment, and took out his art supplies. He was painting a mural that took up an entire wall, but he wanted to try something new. He wanted to see if he could try to paint without using his hands. Without touching the brush at all. It wasn't that hard for him to dip it in the paint and get it positioned on the wall, but it took all of his concentration to get it to move in a straight line. He ended up stopping, frustrated, and painting by hand instead. Once he got in the zone, into the rhythm of things, he could sometimes lose all track of time.  This time, however, he did notice when the sun set and the room became too dark to see in. He put down his things, washed up, and was reheating some leftovers for dinner when Niall walked in, two boys Zayn had met briefly before in tow.

"Hey Zayn! I told Harry and Louis about your superpowers, so they wanted to come over and see for themselves, since you refused to go out with us!" he said. He was a little drunk, and Zayn was fucking furious. Harry, the curly haired one, gave Zayn a kind of sheepish wave, and Louis said hi as they walked in and sat down at the dining table with him. Zayn forced himself to finish his food before he said anything, since that gave him a moment to calm down.

"You told them? Niall. I didn't want anyone to know. I don't even really understand it myself yet, you know that."

"I don't know anything, Zayn, because you didn't tell me!"

"It's alright, we won't tell anyone. We don't really know anyone else anyway." Louis said.

"You can't be mad at Niall, we begged him to tell us why he was acting so strange, we got him drunk so he'd tell us," Harry pleaded. Niall burped loudly. Zayn sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

There was an expectant silence. Harry and Louis were looking at Zayn.

"What," he said.

"Show us!"

"We already know anyway, so it doesn't really matter - "

"Alright! Let me finish my food, at least."

They waited while Zayn took the last few bites, and he had to admit, he enjoyed the shocked gasps when he used his newfound superpowers to put the dishes into the sink without getting out of his seat.

"That is SO COOL!" Harry exclaimed, bouncing out of his seat to go look at the sink. Zayn wasn't sure what he expected to find there. Louis grinned at him, and Zayn had to smile back.

"Have you done much with them yet? Tested it out? What's the heaviest thing you can lift? Can you lift yourself? Can you fly?"

"I - I don't know. I haven't tried."

"Put your coat on and come on," Louis said. Zayn obeyed. The other boys' excitement was contagious. Niall had fallen asleep with his head on the table, but Harry woke him up and the four of them went outside. Louis insisted he knew a place where Zayn could try different things without being seen, but it was a bit of a drive. Niall nodded when Harry asked if they could drive his car, and Louis led the way to the outskirts of the city, parking the car at the edge of a clearing, with a few trees here and there. It looked like an overgrown playground, and Zayn thought he could see what used to be a swing set, now rusted over and overgrown by moss and weeds.

"See what you can do," Louis said, sitting on the trunk of the car with Harry. Niall leaned out the window, his elbows on the ledge. The cool air and night drive had given him a second wind.

Zayn felt the air around him pick up, like he was in some kind of invisible force field, and then he focused his energy on himself. He looked down and saw that he was floating a few feet off the ground. Then he tried to make himself move. He took a step and nothing happened, so he concentrated really hard, and he whizzed by so fast he nearly slammed into a tree, slowing down just in time. He lowered himself to the ground and exhaled. Beads of sweat had formed on his upper lip, and he wiped his face with his sleeve.

"That was awesome! You're like the Flash!" Harry exclaimed.

"He's not running on the ground though. He's floating. So it's more like Jean Grey," Louis said.

"Zayn's Matilda." Niall said. Zayn grinned.

"I - I mean, my sisters love that movie," he said.

"Can you pick up a tree?" Louis asked.

"I can do better than that," Zayn said with a mischievous smile. He raised out his hands in front of him - he had figured out by now that he didn't need to move at all to use his power, but it looked cool to pretend like he actually was using his hands - and made a lifting motion. As he did so, moving slowly and with great effort, Niall's car, along with the boys in it and on top of it, lifted off the ground. The boys sat absolutely still, eyes sparkling with excitement, and Zayn managed to get them a full two feet off the air before he had to put them down. His whole body was sore, like he'd run a few miles without warming up first.

"That was SICK!" Harry exclaimed.

"You could do so many things with that, Zayn," Louis said.

"Moving little things is easy but bigger things take a lot out of me."

"My best mate's a fucking superhero!" Niall yelled into the night, his voice echoing in the darkness as the others laughed.

"Zayn the Great," Zayn said, getting in the car. Louis knocked his shoulder against him playfully.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," he said. Zayn rolled his eyes, but he had to admit he was growing fond of Harry and Louis both.  Niall had good taste in friends. Zayn leaned back in his seat, tired but content, the cool night breeze ruffling his hair as Louis drove them all home.

 

Zayn didn't see Liam for the rest of the week, until one Thursday afternoon when it was nice enough outside that he took his lunch out back, enjoying the sunny weather as he finished his sandwich. Liam walked up and sat down next to him.

"Hi, Zayn!" he said. He had a bag with him, but he wasn't dressed for work.

"Hi, Liam."

"I'm glad I found you here, I have some ideas for you. I was talking to Louis - "

"You know Louis?"

"Yes, we grew up in the same neighborhood, played together when we were kids. I hang out with him and Harry sometimes, and he told me about how you went out and tested your superpowers last week with Niall."

"You know Niall too? Does any one of you know how to keep a secret?" Zayn asked, exasperated. At this rate the whole city would know that he had telepathic powers by the end of the month.

"I never met him, but Harry and Louis told me about him. So, I have some ideas. Do you like to read comics?" he asked.

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Me too. I was thinking about costume ideas for you, I mean we don't want you to copy anything that's already out there, but you could draw inspiration from this one, see, it's red and gold, or maybe here, we could do something with the Hulk's color scheme - "

"Green and purple? I don't think so," Zayn said, caught up in the process despite himself.  Liam smiled.

"Right, so maybe not the Hulk. What do you think about electric blue?"

"Are there any superhero costumes without tights?" Zayn asked.

"Probably a few. You'd look good in tights though!"

Zayn grinned, and picked up one of the comic issues, flipping through it. Maybe he'd sketch out some ideas tonight. He wasn't actually going to make a costume or wear one, but it was fun to think about.  Liam might not be so bad either.

When Zayn got home that evening, Niall was waiting for him in the kitchen. He looked more serious than usual, and he was holding a piece of paper that had creases on it like it had been folded into an envelope.

"Hey Niall, what's wrong?" Zayn asked, putting his keys on the counter and kicking off his shoes.

"We got this letter in the post today, I don't think Harry or Louis would have sent it and nobody else knows about you - "

Zayn felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, and he took the letter from Niall.

I HEARD ABOUT YOUR POWERS. THERE'S ONLY ROOM FOR ONE SUPERHERO IN TOWN AND IT'S NOT YOU. MEET ME SATURDAY NIGHT SO I CAN TAKE YOU OUT. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. IF YOU DON'T COME FIGHT ME I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN - MAX GEORGE

"Shit," Zayn muttered.

"That's right. You're going to get hurt. You don't really even know how to use your powers that well yet, and I don't know who this Max guy is but he sounds bad."

"He sounds like he's trying too hard to sound cool," Zayn said.

"Still, if he's got the same powers as you he could follow through on his threats."

"Today's Thursday. I have a day to think it over."

"Doesn't sound like you have much of a choice," Niall said.

"I'm going to make some dinner."

 

Zayn tried to completely ignore the idea of what would happen on Saturday as long as he could. He wasn't necessarily afraid of what this Max would do to him, but he was afraid of more people knowing what he could do. He didn't want to be known as the guy who could move things with his mind. He didn't particularly want to be famous at all, but if he was going to be, he'd rather be known for his art. He wasn't at that stage yet, though. He wasn't ready for this. Zayn spent his Saturday sleeping late, doing some art, reading some comics, and messing around on his phone. It wasn't until the sun began to set that he actually got dressed, putting on a T-shirt with a hole in it, his leather jacket, and a pair of skinny jeans with big clunky boots. If worse came to worse he could always kick the guy.

When he walked into the kitchen, Niall, Liam, Harry and Louis were all there. Zayn was confused.

"You didn't think we were gonna let you go out and have a superhero showdown alone, did you?" Louis said with a smile.

"You don't have to go with me. You might get hurt. I should do this alone." Zayn said.

"Like hell. We're coming whether you like it or not. I know this Max guy, and he won't come alone either. He's got a whole gang of friends, they call themselves The Wanted."

"More like The Unwanted."

"What, are they a gang or something?" Zayn asked.

"They'd like to think so. I didn't know that any of them had any kind of superpowers, but until last week I didn't know my best mate had superpowers so, people surprise you," Niall said.

"Fine, well then, let's go." Zayn said, trying to hide how touched he was that all four of these boys would risk danger just to be with him and support him. How did he get so lucky?

When they got to the arranged meeting point, The Wanted were already there, two cars parked with the headlights on so that the clearing area was illuminated. Zayn and his friends got out of the car. He wasn't sure which one of the five boys was Max, but it became clear when the bald one walked up and snickered at him.

"You're the kid with the superpowers? What, do you think the leather jacket and the blonde streak in your hair makes you cool?" he taunted.

"If I had a face like yours, my hair would be the last thing I'd worry about," Zayn said calmly. Max snarled, and Zayn was thrown back against Niall's car, so hard that he felt the car door buckle inwards a little. He hadn't been ready for this.

"Kick his ass!" Harry yelled, and Zayn got to his feet, running at Max and tackling him to the ground. Max had apparently not been expecting this, because Zayn got in a few good hits before he recovered and started actually fighting back. Max was so busy trying to pummel Zayn that he didn't notice when they lifted off the ground.  The Wanted were yelling at him, but Harry, Louis, Liam and Niall were drowning out their warnings. Zayn waited until they were a good eight feet off the ground, and then he stood up, ducking out of Max's reach for just long enough to release his hold on him. Max dropped unceremoniously to the ground and Zayn slowly drifted down to meet him.

Zayn was rushed by his friends, who hugged him and checked him over to make sure he wasn't too injured. Max's friends did the same, but they had to help him to his feet. Max was holding his arm awkwardly close to his chest, and Zayn was just a little scratched and bruised.

"How do you like that, Chlamydia boy!" he yelled triumphantly. Max scowled.

"Piss off," is all he could muster. The Wanted left before Zayn and his friends did, and they were still so keyed up they went to get a bite to eat. Zayn knew he looked a mess, with blood on his shirt collar and a black eye slowly developing as well, so they just went to McDonald's. They were loud and boisterous, especially Louis and Harry, and they crowded into a booth that was too small for the five of them, squeezed in too close but not minding it one bit.

"We should come up with a name for ourselves." Liam said.

"What, like The Wanted? We're too good for them." Zayn replied.

"How about Zayn's Boys?" Harry suggested. Louis just gave him a look, and Harry broke down in giggles.

"What do you think of One Direction? We're all going the same place, but together." Liam said.

"I like it." Zayn said. Liam smiled at him, and Niall put his arm around Zayn's shoulder, squeezing him for a second.

"Good choice." Louis said.

"Zayn Malik, superhero, and his gang of sidekicks, together make up what will forever be known as ... ONE DIRECTION!" Niall shouted. The woman sweeping the floor gave him a dirty look and Niall winked at her. Harry laughed and reached over to steal one of Zayn's fries, dipping it in Liam's milkshake.

"Hey, now you've gotten salt in there, it's going to taste funny!"

"It's going to taste better, I've improved it."

"You drink it then!"

"Thanks," Harry said with a smile. Louis shook his head and took the milkshake back, setting it in front of Liam again.

"Don't let him fool you," he warned.

"None of you're touching my food or I'll send you flying," Zayn warned, with his best menacing glare. Niall laughed and stole one of Zayn's chicken nuggets. Zayn sighed and turned away, mock-depressed.

"Aw, Zaynie, cheer up! " Louis said.

"Yeah, you're a superhero with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR sidekicks! What more could you want?"

"You're right. There's nothing more I could ask for." Zayn said, but the moment was lost when Liam spilled the remainder of his milkshake into Louis' lap by mistake, and Harry tried to swipe up the larger chunks of ice cream with french fries despite Louis' protests, and then they all got kicked out of the restaurant for being too loud and messy. Zayn went home a bit sore, but more happy than he had been in longer than he could remember.

 


End file.
